


Slumber

by Saree



Category: Kingdom Hearts
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-03-14
Updated: 2014-03-14
Packaged: 2018-01-15 18:14:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,051
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1314427
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Saree/pseuds/Saree
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Back home, Riku has nightmares of waking up to friends that won't more often than he'll ever admit. (KH3D spoilers.)</p>
            </blockquote>





	Slumber

The first time one of his best friends is suddenly unmoving, Riku is seven. 

Sora takes a baseball directly to the head and the breath knocks right out of Riku as he forgets his bat and just rushes over, all dirt spray and pebbles as he skids and stops before him. He yells for for Kairi, and Kairi yells for a teacher, loud and with tight fists that're white-knuckled and they both look like they're going to cry. Kairi and Riku follow the teacher as she scoops him up and carries him to the nurse's office, and they take turns in the chair until Riku just gives up and lets Kairi curl up in his lap. Sora is only unconscious for less than a half hour and they rejoice. 

Riku recounts the tale with white-knuckled fists, covered with black gloves as he kneels next to Kairi. Her eyes are closed and she won't respond. He thinks back to when Sora was just the same and breathes in deep and tries not to panic, because he didn't panic the first time. He can deal with this, he's sure of it. 

He spends his days fighting himself exhausted and trods back to Kairi like he's habitually saying goodnight to her, tells her in tired, trodden sighs about how he's getting stronger. In his head, he can hear her asking about Sora and pursing her lips when he replies tersely that he's no friend of theirs anymore. Guilt floods his chest and he thinks of yelling at her, but realizes in a split second that he's just yelling at _himself_. 

His hand braces against his forehead, and he sighs. What is he doing? He's never been able to emulate Kairi's faith. She echoed in his head nevertheless, and when he fell asleep with his arms folded on the edge of the bed she was on, he would imagine that they were on the raft. They were on the raft and Sora was babbling something inane and she was patiently making her thalassa charms, and Riku cared for nothing more in the world than just _being_ with them. 

When Ansem takes over his body, Riku has heavy chains around his wrists and he trudges across his Station of Serenity, yelling louder than the sea crashes against the shore in a terrifying storm. It's Kairi's voice that clears his head, it's Kairi's presence that brings him out, it's the only thing that makes Riku break his chains for only a moment so he can _stop_ her from being hurt. 

He watches her go and his arms shake before he disappears.

— ✦ —

He recounts the tale of recounting the tale to Sora when a black coat drapes over his back. He gets to the end before he wraps his blindfold around his eyes, peeking from underneath it for one last time before he covers them, presses the heels of his hands against his blindfold, and turns.

He returns late at night and he presses his fingers against cold crystal. Riku never thought it would be worse, but now, he can't even touch his best friend. At least he could touch Kairi—he could touch Sora, before all this, but this time, he's asleep and unreachable and Riku thinks that, if he squeezes his eyes hard enough and he presses his palms against the glass hard enough, that he can feel Sora's heartbeat. 

He can be assured that he's still alive. Riku _learns_ insomnia inside and out. He tells him of a girl in black with night hair and laughs bitterly because she reminds him of Kairi, and yet, she's her own person. He laughs when he outruns Number VIII, murmurs when DiZ presses him to keep moving forward, and sometimes he stays quiet and simply presses his forehead against the glass. 

Riku thinks Sora used to talk much more. He knows Sora would cut him off and challenge him to a race if he really outrun someone. He can still hear the exuberant chime of his voice, the huff of his breath when Riku declared their score. 

Sometimes, Riku dreams of racing. He dreams that they've finished the entire track around the island and he and Sora are testing it out, and they're neck and neck, and for the first time, Sora wins and Kairi calls it out. Those days, Riku moves slower, like he can go back in time and stop this all from happening. 

When he's sent to retrieve Roxas, Riku pays Sora a goodbye, because he won't see him again. 

He does, because Sora and Kairi were never, and have never been, anything short of amazing. 

Back home, Riku has nightmares of waking up to friends that won't more often than he'll ever admit.

— ✦ —

Riku feels like he's watched his friends sleep more than act, and when Sora's trapped in a dream, every nightmare builds up in his throat and his hands shake. He swallows, and it's gone, and he feels a tiredness setting in.

Why did he think this would be any different? 

He wasn't going to stand by this time. Riku raises his Keyblade with a steady grip as he plunges into Sora's nightmare. He spares no mercy to the shadows that form. Like before, he _will_ bring his friends back to the waking world, no matter what it takes of him. 

Riku wakes up to a tea party and Sora stomping, exclaiming that the cake is all but eaten. 

He couldn't be more relieved.

— ✦ —

Sora and Kairi always used to fall asleep after Riku, when they were younger. He was always so tired back then that he'd just pass out after playing leader for the entire day.

Kairi notices, lately, that Riku stays up, even if his eyes are dead and his gaze is unfocused. Sora notices that Riku's always up after them, so they're often cooking breakfast when he trudges in.

They both wonder, but don't question why Riku will never wake up to both of them asleep. There's so much that's changed about him, maybe that's just something he picked up on his travels, like Sora's penchant for land knots. 

They worry, nonetheless, and sometimes, Kairi and Sora wait for Riku to wake up.

Riku's glad that this is the extent they know about waiting for someone to wake up.


End file.
